Configuration Question: Mac Mini, OS X Server 5, Thunderbolt 2.0 4 Bay Enclosure, Airport Extreme, 10 Port Network Switch

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karbonbased Author

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Configuration Question: Mac Mini, OS X Server 5, Thunderbolt 2.0 4 Bay Enclosure, Airport Extreme, 10 Port Network Switch

Hi Everyone, long time listener....first time caller.

I am setting up the server for our small business and here is what I am thinking:

- Mac Mini with OS X Server 5 Installed

- Will connect to a Thunderbolt 2.0 4-Bay Enclosure (to house our 6 TB drives)

We need at least 7 computers hardwired to the server (we can't afford the slower read/write speeds over wi-fi) so I'm thinking the main ethernet running out of the modem would go to our Airport Extreme, the Mac Mini ethernet also runs to the Airport Extreme and then another ethernet cord would run out of the Airport Extreme to a 10 port Network Switcher and that would go to the rest of the computers on the LAN network for everyone to be able to connect to the internet and access the server.

We plan to also set up remote access and keep another 4 Bay Enclosure offsite to run backups (scheduled on a daily basis)

Does this sound like a good setup or is there anything I should adjust?

Would really appreciate any expertise. 🙂

Mac mini, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), null

Posted on Nov 25, 2015 6:23 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 25, 2015 10:11 AM in response to karbonbased

Welcome to the forums. I will offer my two cents.

If you are using the Airport as your router, then I would suggest connecting it to the WAN (your ISP modem) and then connecting it to the switch to feed the LAN. Then connect the server and all workstations to the switch. Here is the rationale. If you take the server and connect it to the Airport, then connect the Airport to the switch, then connect 7 devices to the switch, those 7 devices must all come across a single 1000Base connection to get to the server. This is a choke point. Instead, if you have a good switch, you can make the server and the workstations all equal peers and while you still can have contention between devices, you at least are not producing a choke point for the clients. Make sure you are getting a 1000Base switch.

Also consider your security model. I applaud you for planning an offsite backup. Make sure you are transmitting the data safely. Also, I would recommend connecting your server to a battery backup. This can protect the device during power loss and can also be configured to automatically shutdown the server when AC power is gone.

Start with DNS. Set a good foundation for your services. Understand what is service DHCP. The Airport will do this in router mode. For your size this is probably fine. Consider Open Directory. It is a requirement of management so if you go that route you will already be setup.

Enjoy. Make OS X Server successful and your business will follow.

Reid

Apple Consultants Network

Author "El Capitan Server – Foundation Services" :: Exclusively available in Apple's iBooks Store

Author "El Capitan Server – Control & Collaboration" :: Exclusively available in Apple's iBooks Store

Author of Yosemite Server and Mavericks Server books

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Answer 2

cdhw

Level 4

3,588 points

Nov 25, 2015 10:59 AM in response to karbonbased

As Sr90 indicated a bottleneck is going to be the Mini's network connection. You might consider adding a thunderbolt-ethernet adaptor and creating a 2Gbps bonded-link to the switch so the 7 clients share 2Gbps to the Mini. This assumes your switch can handle bonded links, of course, but if it can this will double you throughput for about $30.

C.

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Answer 3

karbonbased Author

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Nov 25, 2015 12:16 PM in response to Strontium90

Thanks Reid,

This is really solid advice and makes perfect sense.

The network switch I am planning on using is Gigabit (which is 1000base if I know my computing) here it is:

http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-GS108NA-ProSafe-Gigabit-Ethernet/dp/B00006RVPW

We actually inherited a bunch of battery backups from the previous tenant (a tech startup that sold out) so we plan to have a battery backup for all computers, standard APC battery backups similar to these: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=41116 15

I'll have to do some research and testing regarding some of the things you mentioned like open directory.

But I appreciate the input

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Answer 4

karbonbased Author

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Nov 25, 2015 12:19 PM in response to cdhw

That's a very interesting idea and I like it. There are 2 thunderbolt ports so I can have one for the 4 bay enclosure and use the second one to run thunderbolt to ethernet to the network switch....I'm definitely going to add this as part of the setup.

Do you think there would be any kind of advantage (or would it even work or do anything) if I used the second thunderbolt port on my 4-bay enclosure to run thunderbolt to ethernet to the network switch as well?

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Answer 5

Nov 27, 2015 6:04 AM in response to karbonbased

If you have a Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter running on the second port of the 4-bay enclosure it will work fine but might theoretically slowdown drive access a little. In reality I don't think you would be able to detect this, so you can do this and could in theory 'bond' the built-in Gigabit Ethernet plus two Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter and get a total of 3Gbps. This would require using three Ethernet ports on your switch.

Update: Just realised the specific switch you listed does not support bonding Ethernet ports together so you cannot do channel bonding to create a 'bigger' 'faster' connection.

Another approach which is probably overkill is that you can get a Thunderbolt to 10Gbps Ethernet adapter. To benefit from this your network switch needs to support a 10Gbps module. The one you listed obviously does not support 10Gbps but this one does http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OZCFVVC/ref=psdc_281414_t3_B00B46AEE6

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Answer 6

karbonbased Author

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Nov 27, 2015 6:08 AM in response to John Lockwood

Thanks John,

Really good catch! Unfortunately the switch you are suggesting is a little more than we was planning on a switch, it's also got more ports than we need. The most ports we could possibly need is 16.

Is there any other switch you would recommend that could be less expensive and maybe have 16 port?

Or what is the keyword I should use in my search for another switch? Sorry, I'm something of a newbie in this area!

🙂Would really appreciate the help,

J

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Answer 7

Nov 27, 2015 6:51 AM in response to karbonbased

There are cheaper 16 and 24 port gigabit switches but the one I linked to is very cheap for one with 10Gbps capability. Here is a cheaper managed 1Gbps switch which can do channel bonding (port aggregation) but cannot do 10Gbps. http://www.amazon.com/HP-1810-24-v2-Switch-J9801A/dp/B009HQ9FYU/

Bear in mind that high end switches admittedly with 48 ports but also with 10Gbps Ethernet capability can go for over $4000 each.

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Answer 8

karbonbased Author

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Nov 27, 2015 6:55 AM in response to John Lockwood

Okay, understood. I am going to go ahead and order the switch you recommended in your first post. It's important that we have a very fast LAN network because of the kind of work we do. It's not worth saving some money now to have a drastically slower connection on an ongoing basis.

Really appreciate the recommendation!

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Answer 9

karbonbased Author

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Nov 27, 2015 6:58 AM in response to John Lockwood

Is there anything tricky about the setup that I should know?

Or is there any documentation you would direct me to or will the LAN network fall into place based on my server setup?

Thanks

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Answer 10

Nov 27, 2015 7:12 AM in response to karbonbased

karbonbased wrote:

Okay, understood. I am going to go ahead and order the switch you recommended in your first post. It's important that we have a very fast LAN network because of the kind of work we do. It's not worth saving some money now to have a drastically slower connection on an ongoing basis.

Really appreciate the recommendation!

If you are seriously going to look at 10Gbps Ethernet for the server then before you commit to the Ethernet switch you need to check the price of such a Thunderbolt to 10Gbps adapter. See the following -

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/twin10g.html (copper connection)

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/echoexpresssel_10gbeadapter.html uses an included Thunderbolt to PCIe enclosure

http://www.promise.com/Products/SANLink/SANLink2/10G-BaseT(copper connection)

http://www.promise.com/Products/SANLink/SANLink2/10G-SFP (fibre connection)

https://www.small-tree.com/categories/thundernet2/ (a reseller of the above)

http://www.akitio.com/adapters/thunder2-10g-network-adapter (it is shown with a MacBook but will work with all Macs that have Thunderbolt)

The original NetGear switch I listed has both copper and fibre 10Gbps ports.

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